How much does an Enshrouded server cost?Four plans, all with 16 slots - and why you pay for performance instead of players

Published on November 3, 2026

Prices at a glance

Four plans, all prepaid and without a contract. The buttons take you to the order with the plan already selected:

The "Suits" column describes what a plan is designed for, not a limit. You set the number of players yourself in the game server panel under startup parameters, in every plan up to the maximum of 16.

Which plan for which group?

For most groups, the choice comes down to four cases:

• Two to four players: plan S. With 6 GB of memory, even the entry plan is above what Keen Games states for a full server. For a small group playing the story together, the computing power is more than enough.
• Regular group of up to about eight players: plan M. As soon as people join at different times and head off in different directions, the server has to calculate several areas of the world at once. M adds CPU power for that.
• Full group with up to 16 players: plan L. This is our recommendation for everyone who wants to use the full player limit. Keen scales its own hardware recommendation for 16 players through more and faster cores - and that is exactly where L comes in.
• Full group with large build projects: plan XL. Many bases, fully equipped workshops with running production and a group opening up new areas at the same time get the most out of the processor. XL also offers the most space for saves.

Not sure? Then start one size smaller. You can upgrade yourself at any time in the customer interface, and your save and configuration are kept.

Why the price doesn't depend on the number of players

Many Enshrouded offers charge by slots: four, six, eight or ten, and if you bring in more friends later, you move to a more expensive plan. For Enshrouded, that ladder fits poorly with what the server actually needs. Keen Games gives unusually precise figures in its server FAQ:

• Around 4.4 GB of memory when idle. That is the base the server uses before anyone is even online.
• Up to 100 MB per player. Going from four to sixteen players adds a little over one gigabyte, no more.
• No more than about 6 GB in total. According to Keen, more memory does not make the server faster.

What really grows with the number of players is the work for the processor. Enemies, weather, water, production chains and a voxel world that constantly changes through digging and building all have to be calculated for every player. Keen therefore raises its own recommendation only for the CPU - from six cores at 3.2 GHz for four to six players to eight cores at 3.7 GHz for sixteen. The higher clock speed shows what matters: single-thread performance counts for more than the sheer number of cores.

Our plans follow this logic. You pay for computing power and storage; the number of players is free in every plan. How slots and performance relate in general is explained in Game server slots explained, and the memory requirements of all games in comparison are in How much RAM do I need?.

What really challenges the server

Two groups with the same number of players can load a server very differently. These factors decide whether a smaller plan is enough:

• Spread-out players. Players who travel together keep one area of the world active. Eight players at eight ends of the map force the server to calculate eight areas with enemies, weather and terrain at the same time.
• New areas. When exploring, the server loads parts of the world. If several players teleport between distant places at the same time or move into unexplored regions, load peaks occur.
• Developed bases. Workshops with running production, many residents and large buildings cost computing time permanently, even when nobody is nearby.
• Difficulty. If you let more enemies spawn or raise their perception via gameSettings, you also raise the load.

A typical sign of insufficient performance is players who stutter or get disconnected when travelling into new areas or teleporting between bases. Keen itself recommends lowering the number of players in that case. With us, the better answer is usually the next larger plan.

Host from inside the game or rent?

Enshrouded can be played without a rented server: one person opens the world, the others join. That costs nothing, but there is a price elsewhere:

For a group that always plays together, the first option is enough. As soon as someone wants to keep building at the Flame Altar while the host is offline, there is no way around a server of your own.

What the price includes

• All 16 slots in every plan - no surcharge per player.
• Difficulty presets and custom rules via Default, Relaxed, Hard, Survival or Custom.
• User groups with their own password, permissions and reserved slots, plus a ban list.
• Your own save via WebFTP or SFTP in the savegame folder.
• Console, config editor and task scheduler, subusers and automatic updates after every patch.
• DDoS protection up to 250 Gbit/⁠s, located in Frankfurt am Main, ready in around 120 seconds.

Backing up your save is self-service: download the savegame folder and enshrouded_server.json via WebFTP or SFTP, ideally before big updates. Our server is for the PC version on Steam - Enshrouded 1.0 was released without crossplay, and PS5 players cannot connect to PC servers.

Keeping costs down

Three levers that actually work:

• Choose by concurrent players. What matters is how many of you are online at the same time, not how many know the password. A group of twelve with usually five playing in the evening gets by with M.
• Start small. You can upgrade yourself at any time in the customer interface. There is no reason to pay in advance for a group that has yet to grow.
• Use breaks. Without a contract, you only pay while you play. Before a longer break, download the savegame folder and let the credit run out; for the next big update, order again and restore your save.

How prepaid compares with a subscription is shown in Prepaid or subscription?, and where Enshrouded sits among all our games is in How much does a game server cost?. If you want to top up with Paysafecard, the details on the fee are in Game server with Paysafecard.

Frequently asked questions